Galveston Girls Getaway

Celebrating 20 years of friendship and our birthdays with a “Mommy vacation”. It felt like such an accomplishment talking for a year with my BFF about doing this, saving up for it, and then enjoying everything we planned. Does traveling together make you closer? You bet! It was an introvert’s dream meets a week long sleepover: reading on the beach, watching The Great British Baking show, painting our nails while eating sun chips, finding souvenirs, and geeking out over Victorian architecture.

DAY 1

Traveling Day!

My BFF drove 4 hours to meet me at the airport, then we road-tripped to the island. Settled into our AirBnB with groceries, had dinner at BLVD Seafood. The shrimp and grits blew my mind! It was night by the time we left, and a Full moon on the horizon.

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DAY 2

7 Miler + Scavenger Hunt Part 1

Witnessed the sun rise on the beach as I ran 7 miles in high humidity. Did the ice-in-a-kitchen-towel trick, packed electrolyte water, and made frequent stops at the house. BFF and I did a scavenger hunt around town for historical stops, sight seeing, Tex-Mex for lunch, and shopping.

My little girl turned 12, and I got to see her blow her trick candles and open her gifts on FaceTime.

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DAY 3

Beach Day + Nails

Another sunrise run! This time I tested the waters and dipped my toes in the gulf. Warm as bath water! Walked the wagon over the boiling hot sand. Rented an umbrella/chairs, swam with our kick boards, snacked on fruit and cheese, read our books, and laughed ourselves silly.

Grocery shopped, ended up with pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and sushi. We painted our nails while watching Eurovision.

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DAY 4

10-Mile treadmill run + Moody Mansion + Scavenger Hunt Part 2.

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DAY 5

Morning beach walk shell hunting. Pavlova. Fancy birthday dinner at the harbor. The Grand Opera Show.

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DAY 6

Bishop’s Mansion + Souvenirs + Custard. Church, Pirate store, gift shop, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza card game.

I found my pirate-loving son W a souvenir at the Pirate shop: a stuffed parrot, which he’s always wanted so he can put it on his shoulder! Also found a Fairy Book making kit (with like mini books that have real content on the inside pages) for my little bookworm daughter L, the shop owners said it would be perfect for a preteen who loves books and crafting! All the people we’ve met have been so friendly and helpful.

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DAY 7

Sunrise Run + Beach Day shell hunting + Thai Dinner + Tea Party Surprise

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DAY 8

Check Out, Travel Day

Went for a last beach sunrise walk. Many delayed flights later… Spent most of the day in the airport.

I learned so much about my BFF on this trip! Since this is a first, and it’s been many years since we’ve been able to spend this much one-on-one time after each respectively running our own households for 10+ years, I worried about whether we’d gel or if I’d annoy the heck out of her and ruin our friendship, hahaha! Turns out we approach things similarly, and worked really well together—especially when it came to deciding meals and activities, and even how to get places! Apparently we both have a “bad” sense of direction, so I was really happy about being able to help navigate when we actually ended up getting there, haha! I credit my running all along the Sea Wall with having an idea of where things were. It’s a good thing the island is small. By the end of our trip, we felt like we could find our way! We even got stopped by a local who asked if we “needed help finding something because we looked like tourists”—it was probably the sun hats and stopping at every corner checking our Scavenger Hunt clues 😆.

Amanda is a Planner like me, which is why we booked the place 8 months in advance… it worked out well because we loved staying at this girly AirBnB. She’s so thoughtful, like going out of her way to make the Tea Party a surprise, and taking hours to bake crème brûlée- how did she know I love that??? It was so fun doing late night cravings for sweets and even boogie boarding—that’s stuff we used to do together as teens! She remembers so many details! It puts my memory to shame. I’m amazed at all she’s accomplished over the years. During dinner, she showed me some of the physics and calc problems she worked on this past semester; she is a wealth of knowledge and I love her curiosity about every subject under the sun! She loves the strange and even shocking, which I think she tones down for my sake haha. When we visited a “Witchery” store and I was freaked out by some of the dark stuff in there, she showed me some of the other figures from Mythology like the Triple Goddess representing birth, life, and death (in other mythology shown as 3 witches or The Fates). Just random stuff like that, lol! I miss her so much already!

There’s a few things I learned about myself, too, that Amanda mentioned. Towards the end of our vacation when we still had a lot of things we wanted to do and had to figure out which ones we’d pursue or make reservations for, she wanted to make sure I was doing what I really wanted to do because I was so accommodating. The truth is, I was happy as long as I was spending time with her and I love being extra flexible and up for anything while on vacation! I call it my “Vacation Mode” lol! Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the pressure of not wanting to miss out on things and pushing yourself. She told me I’m on my phone too much taking pictures haha, and didn’t understand why anyone would take pictures of their food. “I just like to be able to remember that meal and how it tasted and how much I enjoyed it,” I smiled sheepishly. We laughed about how her family’s group messages are all Dad Jokes, and my family’s group messages are pictures of our food lol!!! I realized that she had a point about taking too many photos when I really struggled with whether to bring a waterproof pouch to the beach so I could take photos of the water there. Amanda told me not to worry about it, just enjoy the water; and she was right! Last thing I learned is that I need my spiritual cup filled; after a week without that, I really missed it. Even though Amanda and I grew up going to church together, our lifestyles and beliefs are different now and although we didn’t speak specifically about it, I felt that she was very respectful and I hope I was, too. I hope she can feel my support and love for her where it counts.

Thank you the most to my Sweetheart Jeremy, who took care of our family and held the fort while I had an amazing time in Galveston!